Monday, November 14, 2022

Nov. 14, 2022 - Readings in Recovery: Today's Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation

 

Monday, Nov. 14, 2022

Today’s Gift from Hazelden Betty Ford Foundation is:

Solitude is …when you marry your thoughts. It’s when you start off on the wrong leg and end up on the right. It’s peaceful. It’s not languid. It can make your guts feel as if they are consuming you. It can be the highlight of the tension which challenges a former truth. — Julie Newmar

We may think there’s something wrong with solitude, equating being alone with loneliness. But we can choose to make a period of solitude part of the day, making a commitment to be fully present and alive, reveling in the time for confiding in ourselves and paying attention to the Spirit that sustains life.

We can make a list of some uses of solitude we find pleasurable. Pursuits that may enrich our solitude include writing in a journal, listening to music, preparing ourselves a favorite meal, reading, taking a walk or bicycle ride, working on a creative project, studying one of the Twelve Steps, or simply sitting and appreciating a time of quiet. A three‑to‑five‑minute mind‑clearing meditation at any time, day or night, offers surprisingly deep refreshment to our spirits. If our lives allow little time for solitude, we can make full use of even a brief interval to nurture our deeper selves.

Today, a time of solitude revives my spirit.

Hazelden Foundation

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